{monday mumbles}

• Brice had a GI follow-up on Friday --- it was rather boring (which is NICE!) --- until Brice takes his Nexium, twice daily, for 2-3 weeks, we cannot assume that his pain isn't GERD related. We has taken it as prescribed since Friday :) {in addition to his $45 ear drops - 4 drops in his left ear (the one with the tube), twice daily - I about died when I had to pay for those... we follow-up with his ENT next week}... yay for not having to fight him! He has also been saying he's hungry, asking for food and actually consuming it too! I feel like we are beginning to make some progress and I am thrilled :) 
• I took the boys to the Audubon Zoo for their FIRST TIME ever - I know, crazy, right? We live in NOLA and I've never taken them (whoopsie)! We went with Jenni & her sweet boys - all 4 boys had so much fun! We went to every exhibit and spent a total of 5.5 hours at the Zoo. I enjoyed spending time with Jenni and not being rushed. It was awesome catching up with her! {cell phone pics to come}
• Our weekend was pretty relaxed... and I really enjoyed it! Saturday, we had breakfast with the EASTER BUNNY at Bravo's. I have to say for what we really got our money's worth. It only cost $10.95/adult and $5.95/child. They served a buffet of french toast, stuffed french toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes and fresh fruit (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and pineapple). The kids were given a bag filled with candy and a plastic egg. The egg contained a free ride on the Easter Train at Lakeside Mall and one free appetizer ($12.99 value) and one free kids meal ($5.99 value) at Bravo's. They set up a little area to take pictures with the Easter Bunny and while he wasn't busy doing that, he was going from table-to-table taking pictures and visiting. 
• As of Friday, Mr. Pierce's tooth, that was fixed on Thursday, was back to it's jagged, chipped-self. We go back to the dentist tomorrow...
• We're hosting EASTER at our house this year - I am excited! I love to decorate - it's going to be fun!
• We have two new pets... TURTLES! They are named Nemo & Nemo 2 (I give you one, and only one, guess as to which of us named the turtles). Brice helps us feed them and he loves watching them... 
• In closing, I am going to leave you with two invitations I've recently designed for friends of mine:

finding words

It amazes me to have a child that has almost 40 words at {almost} 16 months old. Pierce is spontaneously acquiring more and more words! He says Bice (Brice), no (and he knows how to shake his head no), up, down, mommy, daddy, potty, poo-poo, Daisy, Duke, stop (top), Neo, kitty, duck, quack, moo, dog, uh-oh, night-night, go, out, bye, hop, PaPa, Elmo, woof-woof, ahh-ahh (monkey sound), boat, choo-choo, cat, bubbles, roar, yum-yum, ball, two, cat, blue, hello and hi. Pierce is able to communicate with us, with his brother, with his world. We don't have meltdowns, tantrums, confused looks because his parents have no idea what he is trying to communicate... once upon a time, with Brice, that's exactly what we had...

I remember it all clearly... I googled Early Intervention in hopes of finding out whether or not my babe was truly delayed with his speech. I was tired of people telling me "he's fine, don't worry," "boys talk later than girls," and "give him until he is 2 years old." My heart was telling me differently. I knew that he wasn't fine. And my brain fought my heart... hard. How could my baby not have words? We never used baby talk. We read books, we used descriptive adjectives, etc... why wasn't he talking? His peers were - some in two to three word sentences. I've prided myself on my intelligence. I maintained a 3.914 GPA while in college. I married a smart man. It hurt my brain in ways that I cannot even begin to describe. I felt like I failed him.

We had our initial meeting with Early Steps. He was approved to have an evaluation. Can he do this, that and the other... no, no and maybe. I remember feeling even worse after our evaluation. My irrational brain was in full overdrive... How have I failed my baby like this... when in reality, if I were to have listened to my rational brain, I would have known that they were attempting to establish a base and a ceiling. But I couldn't think straight... I really felt as though I failed him.

Brice had his third ear infection and we were referred to our ENT. Brice had a hearing test and he failed. After our ENT appointment I felt as though we had an answer for my baby not having any words. That certainly didn't make it sting any less when Early Steps called and confirmed that Brice was significantly delayed in communication and cognition. We had an answer and a plan of action. Brice received a PE tube in his left ear and had his maxillary and sub-lingual frenulums cut on April 13... one year ago today... my baby's body was given the physical opportunity to find his words. I can't thank Dr. Peltier enough.

In the early days of speech therapy, we were learning to use sign language to communicate. He learned signs rather quickly and we were grateful for having an opportunity to communicate his basic needs (milk, more, eat, etc). And then by his second birthday, he had a handful or words... not many, but enough to make me beam with pride. And slowly but surely, he really started to find his words. As days turned into months, he was able to piece two and three words together for sentences. He began to spontaneously acquire words. And then it hit us one day... Brice NEVER stopped talking! Some days, I find myself lost in thought while listening to Brice talk. I sit there and smile and think about how far he has come in one short year.

Brice had his one year reevaluation with Early Steps a little over a month ago... he no longer qualifies! She was beyond impressed with "his intelligence." I knew he wouldn't re-qualify and I was so happy because I know where he was one year ago... wordless. He still has a small articulation problem. We have three sessions left with our speech therapist. She believes that he will work through those in our last few sessions and will no longer need her help (note: we had considered continuing in private therapy with her). Our speech therapist is truly an amazing woman. She helped my baby find his words (in addition to helping my other baby as well) and for that, thank you doesn't seem to be enough.

My children have taught me so much and not just through this, but through every hurdle we've overcome with them. They've taught me that nothing is insurmountable. They've taught me how to hope when I thought hope was gone. They've taught me how to be more compassionate and less concerned about what others think. And most importantly, they've taught me how to love deeper than I ever thought was possible. And for that, I thank them.

{monday mumbles}

{monday mumbles}

• Potty Training is going VERY WELL! Brice has been in underwear 24/7 since Thursday morning. He's had a few accidents - mostly at naptime. It's weird --- he stays completely dry overnight (so 10ish hours) but the last two days he's woken up wet from his nap. He's napping now so we'll see... Overall, he's doing fantastic - no pullups, only underwear... all the time... and 5 accidents TOTAL. {I am proud mama if you can't tell}. But here's my concern... pooping. I think he's a bit backed up because of all the barium he had last week. He's only had one BM since last Sunday (yikes!) I keep asking if he needs to poop and he tells me no... I've heard that this can be the tricky part of PT'ing... fingers crossed.
• So far, all of Brice's testing has come back normal, within normal limits or negative - bloodwork, stool studies, nuclear gastric emptying study, VFSS and Upper GI Series --- his upper endoscopy found a hiatal hernia and his duodenum aspirate showed a staph aureus infection.
• Pierce is spontaneously acquiring more and more words! He says Bice (Brice), no (and he knows how to shake his head no), up, down, mommy, daddy, potty, poo-poo, Daisy, Duke, stop (top), Neo, kitty, duck, quack, moo, dog, uh-oh, night-night, go, out, bye, hop and probably a few more that I cannot think of! His laugh and smile are still just as infectious as ever! Some words that I forgot: PaPa, Elmo, woof-woof, ahh-ahh (monkey sound), boat, choo-choo, cat, bubbles, roar, yum-yum, ball, two, cat, blue, hello, hi --- almost 40 words!
• We went to French Quarter Fest on Sunday and had so much fun! George's brother, David, came with us and Brice had so much fun with Uncle Dabe (Dave). You couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous day but it was hot... H-O-T! Brice sucked down 20oz of fruit punch (definitely not in my top 10 of liquids to give to him but we were in downtown NOLA and it was free!)... and he had two accidents around 45 minutes later... both happened within minutes of each other. And it one of my not finer moments... I had a dress on because it was H-O-T... it was also windy... {do you see where I am going with this...?} --- my dress flew up in the back (while I was pushing the stroller) --- I screamed (which probably only brought more attention to me) and made George push the stroller so I could hold my dress down --- sigh...
• Brice's appetite sucks lately... I know it's due to his stomach problems... I don't know if he know has aversions because of the pain - he's made negative associations with food? We give him {almost} whatever he asks for. He typically takes 1-3 bites (if that) and that's it. The one thing he will eat is white bread - toasted or not - it's a guarantee. He drinks lots and lots of water. He no longer wants to take his Nexium - I think he knows medicine is mixed into whatever I have in the bowl in my hand (I typically mix it into Greek yogurt or applesauce), especially since he did not request whatever is in the bowl. 
• We have a few appointments this week for the kids - Pierce is getting his tooth fixed on Thursday and Brice has a follow-up GI appointment on Friday {I can't wait for that appointment}... I just want an answer and a solution to Brice's GI problems and I would love a special way to get medicine into him!
• The boys have been coming into our room around 5:45am (it's cute to see them both walking in with their blankets but I also enjoy seeing the inside of my eyelids at 5:45am too!) My husband is wonderful... he let me stay in bed for an extra 45 minutes this morning - I really needed it.
• I am keeping my fingers crossed that another little path in my life continues to open up - if and when it does, I will share about it :)
• On Thursday, Jenni and I are taking our {four} boys to either the Zoo or Aquarium! I haven't seen her in months... I am excited about spending time with them :)

something had to be easy {our big news!}

In the midst of all our chaos, something had to be easy... yes?
BRICE is only wearing BIG BOY UNDERWEAR!

This happened suddenly and all on his own doing... and we welcomed this BIG change with open arms!

I have to say this whole potty training thing has been a lovely little piece of cake.

We bought him underwear months ago and I was going to try the 3 Day Potty Training Boot Camp --- I made charts, bought stickers, skittles, etc --- we talked for days leading up to The Big Day about how he would no longer wear diapers --- The Big Day came and he was not having it. I decided he wasn't ready and that I was not forcing anything on to him. I would much rather it be a simple process. My fear was forcing him to potty train and dealing with accident after accident for months upon months. So we just left his big boy underwear in his closet for him to access at his leisure... and that's just what he did. Every once in awhile he would would put a pair on but that was about it. Occasionally we would ask if he wanted to use the potty and he would politely decline and everyone went about their business... until Tuesday.

We got home from his testing and he asked to put on a pair of underwear. About 5 minutes later I reminded him that he had underwear on and that if he needed to pee, to let me know. He looked at me and said "mommy, I need to pee." We went to the bathroom, he stepped onto his stepstool, sat on the toilet and proceeded to pee! A little while later he had a very small accident and demanded to wear a diaper. Around a half hour later, George and I were in the kitchen prepping dinner and Brice came up to me and said he needed to pee. We took him to the bathroom, took his dry diaper off and he peed in the toilet again! We were SO excited!!

Wednesday was... well it was Wednesday. When we got home, George and Pierce were in the backyard and Brice and I went to get the mail. He asked me to take his pants off and I assumed he was going to put on a pair of underwear.  I went back outside with all of my boys... I looked to my left and saw Brice's diaper on the ground and my child... PEEING IN THE GRASS! I know I shouldn't have laughed but I could.not.help.it.at.all. George took a picture, we laughed a little more and then I told Brice that even though what he did was funny it wasn't appropriate. He went inside to the bathroom and finished peeing in the toilet.

Yesterday, he wore underwear ALL DAY LONG! He also took it upon himself to start standing and peeing into the toilet. He took a 2 hour nap in underwear - no accident. We left the house for 2 hours once George got home... in underwear... no accidents! He used two public restrooms. His only accident in the last 24 hours was at 2:15am. He woke up crying. I went into his room, changed his underwear, pj's and sheets and we talked about how next time hopefully he can make it to the potty in time.

I think one accident in 24 hours without any "formal" potty training is FANTASTIC! We're not using Pullups for naptime or nighttime because they are just modified diapers. We also feel that it will only hinder how quickly he could learn to gain control during sleep. While it wasn't fun to be in his room changing his sheets, underwear and pj's at 2:15am, it's just another small sacrifice for such a huge milestone!

We are accident free this morning as well! We don't have to remind him to go - he tells us "Oh mom, I need to go pee." --- and off he goes. He turns on the light, opens the toilet lid, pees and wait for it {get excited ladies because I know I was}... he grabs 1 square of toilet paper and WIPES THE SEAT OFF!!! He did this all on his own and I have TOTALLY ENCOURAGED it since the first time!!! I told him he is going to make his wife one happy lady one day!

I can't believe (and I am so relieved) that potty training has been so simple. I would have never thought that in his first day wearing underwear we would be accident free during all waking hours and naptime AND that we would be able to leave the house for 2 HOURS accident free as well! I am so ridiculously proud of Brice! We took him to Target last night and bought 2 more packs of underwear as his surprise for staying accident free all day. He picked out Toy Story and Mickey Mouse ClubHouse - kids underwear is pricey... $12/pack!

My babe that made me a mommy is growing up so quickly!

a story about {eggs, a tooth and more}

This may be a bit back and forth, so hang in there while reading it...

Tuesday: Brice had his nuclear gastric emptying study. We left at 6am, arrived at 7:30am and upon checking in, we were told that his test had been canceled... ummmm, excuse me? I very politely informed the lady that we were originally scheduled for Thursday but after speaking with Erin (the tech) she rescheduled us for Tuesday. We went back and forth for a 2ish minutes at which point I asked to speak with Erin. Instead, the lady called Erin, we worked things out, got checked in, paid the rest of our insurance deductible (blech!) and patiently waited... waited... waited. {read: we were told to be there at 8:15 and on Monday someone called and said we needed to be there for 7:30 --- well, they were wrong --- we were not taken back until 8:35am}

They made Brice a scrambled egg with a radioactive tracer... in a styrofoam cup... in the microwave (I should probably hop off my soapbox before I even get started about styrofoam and the fact it is not biodegradable and what it emits once heated... sigh). He went to town eating it... until it burned his mouth... after a few tears {from him} and kisses {from me}, life was good and he finished his radioactive egg. Then it was time for fun {read: NOT}...

Brice had to lay on a table...

{source}

while papoosed {his head was not strapped down and he had free range of his arms}...

{source}

for NINETY {90} MINUTES... pure torture for a toddler...

I brought Toy Story 3 with me and we watched it between tears, screaming and pleas for help (so heartbreaking...) - you would have thought it was Christmas when the lights turned back on in the room and he was able to move again. We had to go back at the 4 hour mark for one last {1 minute} image. We left and went to Chuck E Cheese for an hour because how else do you occupy a toddler when they cannot eat or drink... He won 140 tickets and got a snake and baby frog in return for said tickets. We went back and he started crying as soon as we walked in the room... begging me "no mommy no, please no" - why don't you just rip my heart out kid... but it was only for a minute... thankfully!

Wednesday: Oh Wednesday morning... the antics of Wednesday morning brought me to my knees. I think everything I've been through in regards to doctor appointments, tests, procedures, tears, cries of pain, worrying about test results, the unknown and so much more all finally hit me...

I was in the bathroom doing my makeup because we had to be at the hospital for 10:15am for Brice's Upper GI Series and MBSS. George was getting ready and the boys were playing at my feet... and then it happened... a loud thud that would make any mother's heart know that someone was hurt... then came the screams and my curious 2.5 year old saying "Uh-oh, what happened to Pierce?" --- exactly my thoughts sweet older brother, exactly.

Pierce somehow hit his mouth on the side of our tub. Once I pried his mouth open, wiped away as much blood and saliva as I could, I saw what I feared most... a fracture and an intrusion/luxated injury on tooth E... my poor baby's tooth was chipped (almost spanning the entire length of the base of his tooth) and partially pushed back into his gums. While I rocked him in the nursery, I sat there crying right along with him. As soon as I could compose myself, I called our pediatric dentist on his cell and left a message... then I called his hygienist (a friend of mine) and she said to head into the office for 8:15am. They took a few x-rays and thankfully the pulp of his tooth (nerve) was not damaged. We will go back next Thursday to have his tooth bonded so we can avoid decay (and his tooth will have a normal, non-chipped shape again). As for the intrusion, his tooth should spontaneously re-erupt. It could take quite some time but I am hopeful that because his tooth was not fully erupted to being with, it will continue with it's eruption pattern (maybe just a bit more slowly because of this injury)... 

We rushed back home to pick up Brice and George and flew to Baton Rouge. I called the hospital to let them know we were running late due to a minor emergency. We were suppose to arrive at 10:15am because his tests started at 10:30am... we walked ran in at 10:37am. Brice and I went into the back while my other favorite guys waited for us.

Brice started crying the moment we placed him on the table. I knew it was coming, especially after the day we experienced on Tuesday. I promised him that he would not be strapped down. My promises, at that point, meant nothing. He had to drink a liquid barium contrast while lying on his left side. He took one sip and after that, he spit the rest out. The PA really ruined it when she brought in a 60cc syringe. As soon as he saw it, he kept saying "no medicine mommy, no, please no." After that effort, the PA explained that we could either come back another day or they could call our doctor to get an order for an NG tube to fill his stomach. I told them to go ahead with the NG tube. While the PA was in the back, someone else (not sure of her title) came in and offered Brice a tropical punch flavored barium. He didn't like it. She offered strawberry and he drank it... one sip... then another. They started the test again and of course he no longer wanted to drink it. I promised him another trip to Chuck E Cheese and anything else he wanted (hey, I was desperate)... and it worked. He drank enough to fill his stomach. I thought that was fun... then they had to position him in all sorts of positions... he cried, I begged him to cooperate and soon enough, it was over.

After that, we completed his MBSS (modified swallow study). He was less than thrilled. He drank a few sips of the strawberry barium, wouldn't touch the pudding consistency barium and he consumed the graham cracker dipped in the pudding. They saw no aspiration.

After an hour long trip to Chuck  E Cheese, we went home... and it was lovely to just relax.

Today, the boys had speech therapy. While our ST was here, Brice started coughing hard while drinking some water. She said she thinks that he is fatiguing while swallowing because it happens around 5ish sips into drinking. We will let Dr. A know at our follow-up visit next Friday.

I had planned on sharing some exciting news in this post, but after some thought, I've decided it deserves it's on post! Come back to visit tomorrow to see our exciting news!!

April Fools Day FAIL

Ugh... the title says it all. For some reason, my creative side thought it had the capability to pull off a clever little prank on my husband... in reality, I think I may have shaved 10 years off his life ;)

From time-to-time, my husband forgets that I can no longer become pregnant. I mean, really, how can you forget that. I guess I have to give him a little credit because (1) he is a male and (2) he confuses my tubal ligation (with which there is a teeny, tiny, itty-bitty percentage that you could become pregnant) with the hysterectomy. Oh well.

So I decided this morning, hey why not get my family and a few close friends in on what surely would be a great prank. I sent a Facebook message and a text to the people I wanted in on it. I asked people to send him a text saying something along the lines of "Congrats on Baby #3!" My first mistake: the first person to text him was a friend of ours, but her number was not in his phone. He started calling the house/my cell non-stop... he received 2-3 other texts and the phone calls continued... then I heard the door unlocking and there he was... I started laughing so hard that I was crying. I really thought I pranked him well... until he opened his mouth.

He told me that I scared the crap out of him because I wasn't answering the phone. He said he became worried when he received the first text from a random number saying "Congrats on Baby {our last name} #3." I asked him why he was still worried after she replied with her name. And he said he got scared because of the moron that semi-stalked us 9ish months ago. He thought someone was in the house and on and on... so all I succeeded at was scaring him, not pranking him. And he STILL didn't realize that today was April Fool's... until he was leaving and I said "Happy April Fool's Day!" --- he shook his head, turned around, smiled and said that everyone who was involved in my little prank would pay for it...

I felt so bad for the way he reacted... So my prank was a failure, well kinda... ;)